20 November 2017

fam, 

We had some really good lessons with the Francos this week. We were in our area for part of the trade off and Elder Rencher and I had a family home evening with the family. We really had no idea what we were going to do as we walked in because we didn't like the plan we had worked on. We opened with the video "Mountains to Climb" watch the video and talked about what happens when we try to make positive changes in our lives. Every time we try to come closer to God and make a serious decision Satan really tries to stop whatever progress might be made. We made an analogy to hurricanes. Living the gospel maintains your position in the eye of the storm. Simple things such as offering honest prayers where we talk with God, studying the scriptures and going to church keep us centered. It was really good and we finished with Uno. It was cut throat. 

Thursdays and Fridays we have our morning lessons with the Francos. We taught them the Plan of Happiness and the Word of Wisdom. We had a member come with us who had quit smoking. We had planned to have dinner with them the night before to prep him for what we wanted him to do. Unfortunately that was canceled so as we walked in and we told him he had 2 minutes to tell his story. We sit down, offer a prayer, explain briefly. 

What ensued was an elaborate 25 minute play of him explaining and acting out the story. It included obviously the missionaries knocking on his door, near death experiences, doctors telling him he had three days to live days after his wife "prayed that he would be smitten with something that would teach him a lesson." The Francos seemed to like it, it definitely side tracked our lesson but the spirit was there and it was funny. 

13 November 2017

Tuesday we think we drove by a hostage situation. We decided to knock in a newer area we aren't normally proselyting in and we came up to a bus that was stopped. Two cop cars pulled up super fast and pulled out rifles pretty fast. 

I think we were there as it was unfolding because nothing was done really to secure the area. At this time we were still chilling at the red light and four other cop cars pulled up surrounding the bus. Light turns green and we take the left turn signal and there were about four cops at the rear of the bus. One with a riot shield, two cops at his shoulders, rifles pointed at the bus and another behind with a handgun. It seemed pretty intense. Luckily we didn't hear any gunshots so it hopefully wasn't all that bad.


Wednesday we had a great trade off. A few days prior we picked "G" back up and he kind of has the same problems he had when we dropped him. We asked him to read the introduction and the testimonies in the front of the BoM and pray to see if what he read was true. We called him to confirm and he said it wasn't for him and that he wasn't sure about the BoM, he still allowed us to come over to talk about it. Elder Guerrero and I were together and in our morning planning we really felt that there wasn't a much we could plan for in advance and that we should just come in and rely 100% on the spirit. We talked with G for a few minute trying to find were exactly his concerns where. He hadn't prayed and he was self conscious about asking for rides. We talked about that. The spirit played a huge role in that lesson. We finished talking about how everything relies on if the BoM is true. The cool thing is that the spirit can tell us things to do and show us what to share, Elder Guerrero demonstrated that when towards the end of the lesson he brought up how families can be eternal. This power given to Peter to bind things on earth and heaven (mathew 16:18-19) is the same power families are able to be together after we die, and was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and is available to all worthy people to seal their families. That's awesome, but its even cooler because unbeknownst to Elder Guerrero, G told us or last visit about how a few of his family members had passed away in an incident in Mexico. The Spirit is a revelator and was able to tell Elder Guerrero what should be shared. The spirit is truly key to any conversion. We use the spirit to guide our work, but it's essential that anyone we share anything with has an understanding of what the spirit is, what he does, how we can feel his presence. He reveals truth, gives comfort, is a guide and our job is to learn how to recognize him and follow his directions. 

The "F" family is doing well. They've been on date and were able to come out to stake conference this Sunday. It's really kinda crazy that literally every time we put someone on date who seems sincere everything starts going wrong in their lives. It's like someone doesn't want them to be baptized. Without going into details I haven't seen more things fall apart in anyone's life. It's even been stressful for us. We had three lessons with them this last week focused on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and actually receiving the strength they need to pick up everything that's been falling. It was intense. We walked into their taco shop and they were kind of freaking out. They spent like 30 minutes just unloading everything and we were just sitting there thinking, I have no idea what to do. We were able to share something that invited the spirit into their taco shop and they were visibly feeling better after. 

Saturday we had a mission conference with President Russell M. Nelson. 

As we walked in the chapel we were able to shake his hand and he is super old. He definitely is 93. It was like two hours and the first 45 minutes, a member of the area seventy and his wife shared their testimonies as well as Elder Bennett of the General authority 70 and his wife shared their testimonies and Sister Nelson. Among other things, the general theme was choosing an eternal companion which was a little a typical for a missionary meeting, but it was really good. Elder Nelson stood up and jokingly said "I've never been with a group of missionaries and heard so much about marriage! You're not supposed to be thinking about that! You're missionaries, but did you get the message?" He spoke on a few things and was really lively and funny. One thing I liked was the miracle of the BoM, translated in 68 working days from an unknown language while under persecution and moving two and from I think two states, and adds nearly another 40% of holy scripture to our canon. He then went into how it translates and flows perfectly into Egyptian and some other things. The last 30 minutes were opened to questions and his answers were quite impressive. 

A good week.

6 November 2017

fam,

Tuesday was quite the day. When you have the trust of someone and you trust them, missionary work becomes so much more easy. We invited the Francos out to a church tour. We arrived like 30 minutes before to prep the building, clean a little and to make sure there weren't any surprises. We normally open the baptismal doors but this time I felt that we could just open it when they get there. I didn't think much about that and kept prepping a few other rooms. The tour was really simple but powerful. Once they arrived we obviously started with a prayer and then walked into the chapel. We talked about the importance of the sacrament and why it's a commandment to take the sacrament weekly. We showed them to some other places in the church and ended up in the Relief Society room which also has the baptismal font behind two large doors. It was already nice and the spirit was already there as we talked about the different things that happen in the church but when we opened the door to the font there was as if a tangible wave of peace entered as the doors opened. We just kind of stood there for a few moments. We sat down and had read a simple scripture and had a real frank conversation. Having a relationship of trust and openness with the people we work with is super important. Unlike most investigators, we've known the Francos for a fair amount of time which really helps us be super bold and loving. We laid out everything on the floor about what needs to happen before Hno. Franco gets baptized. It was super awesome and we set daily and weekly goals with them as well as a baptismal date for December 23. We've had a few lessons with them since then that have all gone super well in their taco shop before they've opened. It's been so awesome because we teach a great lesson and they feed us a great meal right after.  

Thursday we had zone conference. It was really good as usual. We were all given a new pass-along BoM and commissioned by our president to read the BoM in 50 days, highlight every reference to Jesus Christ, His words, His Attributes and doctrines and principles taught by the BoM. Blue is the color I chose for references to Jesus Christ and there is so much blue already. I'm on page 90 or so and you can't find a page without it. 

Also exciting news we picked up Santiago! It's been like three or so months but he is our buddy who went to Mexico seeking witch doctors. Crazy stuff, he said Mexico was absolutely terrible, but on a brighter not he seems to be doing better physically. 

30 October 2017

fam,

Monday was a pretty good day. It was the third day of constant rain and we were on foot for all our proselyting time. It was fun and we actually had some pretty good opportunities to talk with people. As long as your feet stay dry you're pretty much fine in the rain. We stopped by the Franco families taco shop and had a good little lesson with them. We walked in to set up a lesson with them and they had a question on why we go to church on Sundays instead of Saturdays. We answered that question and they started asking some more questions that aren't really important doctrinal questions, such as why is Christmas celebrated in December. I think they started to think we had all the answers, we don't. It was fun though, they enjoyed the visit and gave us some good horchata and we left. It was pretty late and we had a brisk walk in the rain to make before we had to be in our apartments. 

This Saturday we had a branch party that was pretty good. We had like 120 people come out. It was really good but it was super hectic. There as practically no time to really talk with people because it was just presentations and dances. We still set up a few lessons. Every member we visited and we asked they bring a friend, brought a friend which was really good. Elder Magalei and I both represented Samoa with our lava lavas. We also made something called musubi, its a seaweed wrap with rice, furikake, spam, and eggs. Pics below. Lava lava pics will be sent separately by Elder Weston, hopefully today. 

We had a good conversation this week. We talked with this one guy who was sitting listening to music and he saw us and said, "Mormons?" We talked about a few things. It was really funny because we were talking and he said something about how other pastors and religious people throw "test style" questions at him to check his knowledge and that he always gets the answers right. Anyway we were having a really good conversation and he paused and asked if he could ask a weird question. He asked us what we thought about angels and their role and purpose. A weird question I've never been asked and I remembered what he said about test questions and threw the question back at him and he couldn't answer it. 

We all laughed because we  remembered the whole part we talked about "test questions" and how they really don't help anyone. We talked a little more about the BoM and he asked us to read him some things out of the BoM. I luckily had my personal set and flipped through just racking my brain for something good. Alma 37:31-37 caught my eye and we read it to him. Its really good and after we read this to him he just stood for a moment and said "wow.... I didn't think anything like that would be in that book." A crazy guy once said something funny to us but has some true application. He said "The golden plates probably weren't golden, they were probably plastic, but the words......... the words were what were golden." 

Regardless of how the Book of Mormon is displayed or explained it won't really mean anything if people don't first read the word, ponder, and ask in prayer if it is true.  Alma 37 is just a passage in the Book of Mormon and there are many people who will read the BoM and not get anything out of it. When we read with real intent we open our hearts to the spirit which then through the thoughts and feelings that come to us tells us the truth of whats in front of us. 

The guy we talked to wasn't quite ready for formal sit down visits to really test out what we share with people, but just being willing to read or listen to the words in the Book of Mormon allowed him to have a spiritual moment. In reading through Preach My Gospel this week in one of our companion studies we came across a line in chapter 5 that I really liked. Moroni 10:3-5 shares a few steps we can follow to receive answers to our prayers. One of them is that we ask with real intent, meaning we intend to act on what we get. 

We try pretty hard to get people to read in the BoM because that's basically the only physical evidence of the truth of our message. Everyone already has a bible or a knowledge of what that is, and Preach my gospel made a point that we must not only pray with real intent but also read with real intent. Like I said before there are people who will read the BoM and not be Mormon by the end of the book. The biggest problem would likely be a lack of real intent in their reading. Joseph Smith said that "a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." To see real change you have to put some effort into bringing your life into accordance of what it teaches, and thus by the promise in John 7:17 you can know if its of God or not.

Sunday was really good. I'm normally playing the piano but Elder Magalei and I have been switching off recently which has given me an opportunity to translate during sacrament meeting. It was super fun, slightly challenging. We had three speakers and the first girl lost her voice and read a talk very quietly, monotone, and without pauses. It was rough, I couldn't even come close to word for word translation so I took the few puzzle pieces I could and made some things up haha. No one would know is the funny thing. The other two talks I could hear well, so those went smoothly.   

After quite a bit of effort Elder Magalei got an answer to what we are to do with the one of our families. Basically we are passing responsibility to a few members and focusing on just reading with them and helping them understand the BoM.

November 11 President Nelson as well  as Elders Randall K. Bennett and Daniel F. Dunningan of the seventy will be visiting the mission. I anticipate some sweet things are gonna happen.